Abstract
The cognitive behavioral treatments for panic disorder and agoraphobia are the most representative evidence-based psychotherapies for psychiatric disorders, and many treatment studies and meta-analyses have been conducted. Exposure and behavioral experiments, relaxation and breathing re-training, psycho-education and cognitive intervention, and homework assignment are included in most of the empirically-supported treatment programs for panic disorders, and a recent meta-analysis indicated that exposure and relaxation are the most effective treatment components. It was assumed to be necessary for the evoked fear and anxiety to be reduced thoroughly through long enough exposure in order to extinguish fear conditioning, but many recent studies showed that the newly associative inhibitory learning is indispensable for the extinction. The reduction of fear in an exposure trial is not mandatory for the inhibition learning to be promoted, but fully experiencing feared symptoms and sensations without safety behaviors and recognizing that negative consequences do not pursue are vital. The role of acceptance during exposure has attracted much attention for those purposes.
